Lighten Up
by Zinnia99
Summary: Mako wakes up late, and his day seems to go downhill from there. He wakes up late for work, walks in the pouring rain, has to work overtime, and everything else that could go wrong, goes wrong. He returns home to find a surprise. This surprise makes his bad day go away. What's his surprise? Read to find out.


**Author's Note: **This is my first Legend of Korra story. I hope you like it.

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Mako had been having a terrible day so far. Why? There were so many things that could be used as an answer for that question.

Bolin had snored louder than usual, and kept him up for almost half the night. Then he woke up late, and had to hurry to get to work on time. He got dressed quickly and rushed into the kitchen to find something to eat, but was out of luck. There was just enough food for one person, and being the protective and caring big brother he was, he left the food for Bolin.

Once he ran out of the attic where he lived, he was welcomed with rain. Rain he had no problem with. But, it was a whole different story when it was pouring outside which caused his mood to dampen even more. No pun intended. He didn't have an umbrella, so the whole time that he ran to work, he got soaked.

He finally made it to the factory where he worked. He was soaked to the bone. He took off his coat and scarf, and went to his workstation. He hoped that his boss wouldn't notice that he was late, but of course he didn't have such luck.

As Mako walked to his station, his boss called him over and said, "I know you were late, so don't try to pretend you weren't. You're going to get paid less for being late."

This got Mako's attention and he offered a compromise, "I'll work as long as you want me to for today, so that I can get full pay."

"You'll have to work until the night shift begins." His boss stated.

"Fine," Mako sighed knowing the long day ahead of him.

He walked to his station and started to bend lightning. His stomach growled, and he was still wet. He shivered every once in a while despite the scorching temperature of the room he was in. He only had to do this for ten more hours.

When his lunch break came around, he just sat while his stomach growled. He didn't have any money to buy any food. He was going to have to wait until he got out of work to eat. While the other men sat, he just thought of what his girlfriend Korra was doing. She was probably working on her airbending. He smiled at the thought of Korra. He knew what she would say to him. 'Just lighten up.' The smile was soon replaced with a frown because he knew she wouldn't be able to come visit him due to her having some plans.

Lunch was soon over, and then he went back to work. Fatigue set in when he had only two more hours to go. To make matters worse, someone had accidently hit him with fire which hit him in his arm. That was going to leave a mark. His shift was finally over and he put his coat and scarf back on. He collected his pay and left.

It was dark outside and he was going to have to get some dinner. He went to Narook's, but saw that they were closed. Well, hopefully Bolin ate something. His stomach continued to growl, and his arm started to hurt more by the second. He couldn't wait to get home.

On his way home, he ran into some trouble. A group of thugs started to attack him. There were three of them, two earthbenders and a waterbender. The earthbenders smashed two walls into him, which caused him to fall to the ground. After, the waterbender bent some water that was nearby and turned it into ice and flung at him. He got up, and flung huge bursts of fire at each of them which caused them to flee, but left him extremely weak and tired.

He finally got home, and was greeted by Bolin and Pabu. Pabu ran up his injured arm which caused him to hiss in pain. He saw that Bolin was sitting on their little couch.

"Hey Mako," Bolin greeted him happily unaware of his injury.

"Hey Bo," Mako replied tiredly.

"Are you okay?" Bolin asked as he heard his brother's tired voice, "You sound kind of tired."

"Yeah," Mako lied to keep his brother from fussing over him.

Mako walked into his room and fell onto his bed. Today was just not his day. He didn't know that someone was in the room until they spoke up.

"Hey City Boy," Korra said as she stepped out from behind the door.

"Hi Korra," Mako sighed, "I thought you were busy."

"I was, but I told Tenzin that I needed to take a break from everything or else I was going to explode." Korra exclaimed dramatically.

She walked over to him and sat on the bed. The truth was that she had gotten the feeling that she should see Mako. She talked to Tenzin and said that she would make up for it late. She could tell that Mako was thinking about something, and decided to be quiet for a second before she interrupted his thoughts. She wouldn't be Korra if she was quiet, now would she?

"You can wait for me with Bolin if you want." Mako said quietly.

Korra looked her boyfriend over. He looked pale, much paler than usual, he had dark purple bags under his eyes, and he winced as if he was in pain. He looked exhausted, and she was surprised he hadn't fainted, from the way he looked; he was bound to. She was sure something was wrong.

"I don't feel like waiting with Bolin." Korra smirked.

Mako's expression changed to an exasperated one and he sighed, "You always have to be difficult don't you?"

"Yeah," Korra replied, "You should know that by now."

"Fine," Mako growled out of frustration, "You can stay in here."

"I wasn't going to leave anyway, so it doesn't matter." Korra scoffed.

He stood and took off his scarf, and laid it on his small nightstand. He then took off his coat. He felt Korra's eyes on him and turned, so that she couldn't see his injury. He didn't feel like worrying her, so he was going to deal with it later. He then took off his shirt which revealed a nicely toned body that had some bruises. He turned and grabbed another shirt that was on his bed, and then realized his mistake.

"What happened to you?" Korra asked as she saw the bruises that were spread all over the pale skin of his torso.

"Nothing," Mako lied as he started to put the shirt in his hand on.

"That doesn't look like nothing to me." Korra argued as she took his shirt from his hand and air bent across the room.

"Korra, I'm fine." Mako grumbled as he took off his pants and put on a pair of shorts.

"No, you're not." Korra stated annoyed at the fact that he lied to her.

She then pushed him onto the bed. Mako hissed in pain as he landed on his injured arm. Korra left the room, and came back with a bucket of water. She then set to healing him. First, she healed his torso where he had a couple of bruises. After, she healed his arm where he had gotten burned. Once she was done, you wouldn't have thought he had gotten injured at all.

"Thank you." Mako said.

"You're welcome City Boy." Korra said as she grinned.

Mako's stomach growled loudly. Korra laughed loudly at that. She left the room and brought some food back with her. There were dumplings, and rice. She handed him the food, and he ate it quickly as if he hadn't eaten all day. Oh wait, he hadn't.

"It looks like someone's hungry." Korra chuckled as she watched Mako eat so hungrily that it would make Bolin jealous.

"That was delicious." Mako said after he finished the food.

"I guess you didn't have the best day." Korra said as she leaned against him.

Mako told her about his terrible day. He told her about running late. He told her about working longer than usual. He told her about fighting the thugs. He told her everything.

"It would seem that you had a very bad day." Korra pointed out.

"It would seem that way, but it got better." Mako said as he smiled.

"When did it get better," Korra questioned, "From what you've told me, this was one of the worst days you've ever had."

"It got better when you came." Mako exclaimed before he kissed her.

The kiss was sweet, and gentle at first. It soon grew deeper and more passionate, as they went on. He held Korra's chin and she wrapped her hands around his shoulders. They then broke apart for a fresh breath of air.

"Remember this whenever your day is terrible," Korra said, "Lighten up. Things will get better."

"I think I will." Mako said as he went in for another kiss.

"I'll always be there to help you lighten up." Korra replied.

"I think I might have to listen to you more often," Mako said in between kisses, "Things certainly got better today."

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**Author's Note: **I hope you guys liked the story. Leave a review to tell me how this was. I'm open to any suggestions or ideas for some oneshots.


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